Political values in the moral maze
Do today's politicians behave any worse than their predecessors?
On BBC Radio’s Moral Maze this week, we tackled the morality of politics. Is there any? Was there ever?
With pandemonium at Westminster over whether officials and/or minsters are breaking Covid regulations and committing yet worse infractions with gay abandon, the question is being posed whether Boris Johnson possesses the moral authority to lead the nation at all. According to polling evidence, trust in the entire political class has fallen to an all-time low. But are today’s political leaders morally any worse than in previous generations?
Some take the view that principle, character and a sense of public service have been largely replaced by status and self-seeking. Others point out that politics has always had its fair share of rogues, and that today we expect far too much of politicians attempting to navigate an infinitely more demanding and complex democratic landscape.
Some think the political system is to blame for the erosion of public trust. Others think the fault lies with a culture that’s all about superficiality, image and taking rather than giving. Do we get the politicians we deserve?
My fellow panellists were Matthew Taylor, Anne McElvoy and Mona Siddiqui. Our witnesses were the former Conservative Attorney-General, Dominic Grieve; the historian and educator Sir Anthony Seldon; Bath university politics professor Peter Allen; and Isabel Hardman, assistant editor of the Spectator.
If you can access BBC iPlayer, you can listen to the programme here.
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